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Upcoming Programs and Events
click each listing for more information
Thur, 2/17, 7pm
Lecture
Pauline Hopkins: Black Daughter of the Revolution
Sat, 2/19, 9:30am-12pm
Workshop
Intro to Genealogy (for beginners)
Tues, 2/22, 7pm
Book Group
First Meeting (registration full)
Sat, 2/26, 10am-1pm
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Birthday Party
Fri, 3/4 5-8pm
First Friday Art Walk
March 10-13
MHS at the Portland Flower Show
Tues, 3/15, 7pm
Lecture
History of American Landscape and Garden Design
Thur, 4/7, 7pm
Book Talk
Kenneth Roberts' Maine
Thur, 5/14, 7pm
Genealogy Trip to Boston
Current Exhibits Museum
Zoom In: New Approaches to Maine History (through 5/29/11)
Gallery
A Most Inconvenient Storm (through 3/1/11)
Showcase Gallery
Student art work from the Local History/ Local Schools Project
Public Programs Made Possible By: 
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Heads Up!
MHS Annual Gala will be held on
SATURDAY
MAY 7, 2011
5-11 PM
The Woodlands Club
Falmouth, Maine  Stay tuned for details.
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Spotlight On:
Deborah Tillman Stone,
MHS Director of Development
We are thrilled to welcome Deborah Stone to MHS. She joins us after four years as Director of Marketing for Reliable Networks in Portland. Deborah brings a tremendous track record including 18 years fundraising experience during which she led major fundraising initiatives at Columbia University and North Yarmouth Academy. She and her husband have a son, a daughter, and a dog named Einstein.
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Stories from Maine Memory Network
Online Exhibit:
Biddeford, Saco and the Textile Industry
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Laconia Mills Boarding Houses, ca. 1895
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It's a new year, and there's some hope that the recession may finally be easing. For Maine, economic development is a perpetual issue. This remarkable exhibit explores the transformation of Saco-Biddeford in the nineteenth century, and how the growth of new industries and technologies shaped work, community, and the economy. View this exhibit.
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MHS News
Grants Now Available to Support Participation in Maine Memory Network
For the past 10 years, MHS has supported local organizations and communities around Maine as they have contributed to Maine Memory Network. (An astonishing 210 organizations have become Contributing Partners.)
Grants are now available to support digitization projects (up to $750), the creation of online exhibits (up to $1250), and for teams to create websites dedicated to the history of their communities (up to $3,000). Each grant requires participation in training and sharing of projects through Maine Memory. The deadline for the first round of grant applications is April 1.
The goal of the program is to help local organizations (historical societies, libraries, and schools, in particular) use participation in Maine Memory to develop skills, build capacity, and expand collaboration with local partners. Learn more about how your organization can get involved.
The program is offered in partnership with the Maine State Library and supported by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum & Library Services.
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From the Collections
A Glimpse Into the Curatorial Process
Recently, Candace Kanes and others from the curatorial team at MHS made a trip to Nelson Rarities, an estate jeweler in Portland, to see what they could learn about our Don Juan Brooch. We knew the brooch--a miniature portrait of King Don Juan VI of Portugal surrounded by diamonds--was given to Henry Dearborn by the King in 1822 as a token of thanks for protecting him during a rebellion. But Candace had questions: Was this a typical diplomatic gift? Would it have been worn or displayed? Was it unique, or were many such brooches made to give away? Andrew Nelson and David Johanson generously shared their time and expertise. The brooch will be featured in Dressing Up, Fitting In, and Standing Out: Adornment and Identity in Maine, 1750-1950, a new exhibit that will open at MHS in June. Visit the museum this summer to see the brooch and other fabulous objects in person! |
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February Programs
MHS will be bustling in the coming months. We encourage you to visit the programs section of the MHS website frequently, as we add new programs regularly. Highlights this month include:
Thursday, February 17, 7 pm
Black Daughter of Maine, American Woman of the World: The Storied Lives and Times of Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins
Speaker: Dr. Lois A. Brown, Mount Holyoke College
Join us to learn about the life, literature, and career of this important Maine-born, African-American writer Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (1859-1930). In Partnership with the Maine Women Writers Collection.
February 19, 9:30 am - 12 pm
Introduction to Genealogy Workshop
Presenter: Kathy Amoroso, Director of Digital Projects, MHS
The first in a diverse series of programs designed to assist your genealogical research. This workshop will introduce beginners to the basics of family history research.
Saturday, February 26, 10 am
Longfellow's Birthday Party!
Join us at Maine Historical Society for a family party to celebrate Longfellow's 204th birthday!
In March, look for a special evening for MHS members at Osher Map Library, MHS at the 2011 Portland Flower Show, and Lucinda Brockway's lecture on the history of landscape design, the first in a series of programs related to historic gardens and related topics. |
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Bill's Mythbusters
Fact Checking with William David Barry,
Maine Historian Extraordinaire
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Confederate General Leadbetter
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CLAIM: More Confederate Generals came from Maine than from Texas.
REALITY: Indeed! In the 1820s, Americans were just settling Texas, which did not become a republic until 1836, and finally a state in 1845. Only one Confederate general was born in the Lone Star State--Gen. Felix Huston Robertson (1839-1928). Maine, always a tad contrarian, was the birthplace of two generals--Danville Leadbetter (born in Leeds, Maine; 1811-1866) and Zebulon York (born in Avon, Maine; 1819-1900). During the Civil War, Leadbetter served the Confederate States Army, and after the war fled to Mexico, and later Canada, where he died. York was a Brigadier General who organized a company of the 14th Louisiana Infantry and served as its first captain. After the war he discovered his six plantations (of which he held a combined 1,700 slaves) had been destroyed. He later opened the York House hotel in Louisiana. The year 2011 marks the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War. Stay tuned for related programs at MHS.
Bill Barry can be reached at rdesk@mainehistory.org.
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